Spirulina is an organism that grows in both fresh and salt water.
It is a type of bacteria called cyanobacterium,which is often referred to as blue-green algae.Just lke plants,cyancbacteria can produce energy out of sunlight,via the process called photosynthesis.
Spiruina was consumed by the Aztecs back in the day,but became popular again when NASA proposed that it could be grown in space and used by astronauts.A standard daily dose of spirulina is 1-3 grams,but doses of up to 10 grams per day have been used effectively.
it is actually quite amazing how nutritious it is.
A single tablespoon (7 grams) of dried spirulina powder contains:
Prctein: 4 grams.
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin):11% of the RDA
Vitamin B2 (Ribofavin):15% of the RDA.
Vitamin B3 (Niacin):4% of the RDA.
Copper: 21% of the RDA.
Iront:11%of the RDA.
It also contains decent amounts of magnesium,potassium and manganese,and small amounts of almost every other nutrient that we need.This is coming with only 20 calories,and 1.7 grams of digestible carbohydrate.Gram for gram,this means that spirulina may literally be the single most nutritious food on the planet.A tablospoon of spirulina contains a small amount of fat (around 1 gram),including both omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in about a 1. 5: 1 ratio.The quality of the protein in spirulina is considered excellent,comparable to eggs. It contains all the essential amino acids that we need.It is offen daimed that spirulina contains vitamin B12,but this is false. It contains pseudovitaminB12,which has not been shown to be eflective in humans.